IndoctriNation Podcast with Rachel Bernstein

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IndoctriNation Podcast with Rachel Bernstein Welcome to IndoctriNation: A weekly podcast covering cults, manipulators, & systems of control

(COMING WEDNESDAY) In this upcoming episode, Rachel Bernstein speaks with Elise Heerde - Certified Coach, co-director of...
13/07/2026

(COMING WEDNESDAY) In this upcoming episode, Rachel Bernstein speaks with Elise Heerde - Certified Coach, co-director of the Religious Trauma Collective, about ethical intervention in cult recovery. Heerde distinguishes exit counseling from coercive "deprogramming," arguing that forcibly removing an adult from a group can mirror the same manipulation survivors are trying to escape — unless there's imminent danger requiring police or social services.

She advocates equipping families with education and stability so they remain trusted bridges, describes team-based intervention approaches, and shares her own experience of abuse, systemic cover-up, and the two-year process of reclaiming her ability to choose.

11/07/2026

Discover the power of embracing the messiness of life in our latest episode.

In this episode, Rachel Bernstein speaks with Melissa Duge Spiers, who talks about growing up inside the Seventh-day Adventist Church — and the hidden cost of its end-times, high-control culture. Her book, ‘Holy Disobedience: S*x, Sin, and Secrets in the Biggest Church No One Knows,’ traces Adventism's roots back to the 1840s Millerite movement and the visions of prophet Ellen White, whose experiences Spiers connects to traumatic brain injury and temporal lobe epilepsy.

Melissa unpacks how information control, purity culture, and anti-LGBTQ teachings shaped her patriarchal, fear-based upbringing, and how those same dynamics played out in the church's boarding academies. She shares what it took to leave at 18, the devastating discovery that followed about her own father, and how that truth cracked open a much deeper reckoning with everything she'd been taught. This conversation covers religious trauma, institutional betrayal, and how social media is helping ex-Adventists find each other and speak out.

10/07/2026

Melissa Duge Spiers challenges the purity culture narrative that damages self-esteem by comparing women's worth to brand-new merchandise.

In this episode, Rachel Bernstein speaks with Melissa Duge Spiers, who talks about growing up inside the Seventh-day Adventist Church — and the hidden cost of its end-times, high-control culture. Her book, ‘Holy Disobedience: S*x, Sin, and Secrets in the Biggest Church No One Knows,’ traces Adventism's roots back to the 1840s Millerite movement and the visions of prophet Ellen White, whose experiences Spiers connects to traumatic brain injury and temporal lobe epilepsy.

Melissa unpacks how information control, purity culture, and anti-LGBTQ teachings shaped her patriarchal, fear-based upbringing, and how those same dynamics played out in the church's boarding academies. She shares what it took to leave at 18, the devastating discovery that followed about her own father, and how that truth cracked open a much deeper reckoning with everything she'd been taught. This conversation covers religious trauma, institutional betrayal, and how social media is helping ex-Adventists find each other and speak out.

New episode 🎧 What happens when the church you grew up in demands total obedience — and calls it faith?Melissa Duge Spie...
09/07/2026

New episode 🎧 What happens when the church you grew up in demands total obedience — and calls it faith?

Melissa Duge Spiers joins Rachel
Bernstein to talk about her escape from the Seventh-day Adventist church, the fear-based control she grew up under, and how she found her way to writing 'Holy Disobedience.' If themes of religious trauma or coercive control resonate with you, this conversation is for you.

09/07/2026

What happens when your religion teaches you to anticipate torture and persecution?

In this episode, Rachel Bernstein speaks with Melissa Duge Spiers, who talks about growing up inside the Seventh-day Adventist Church — and the hidden cost of its end-times, high-control culture. Her book, ‘Holy Disobedience: S*x, Sin, and Secrets in the Biggest Church No One Knows,’ traces Adventism's roots back to the 1840s Millerite movement and the visions of prophet Ellen White, whose experiences Spiers connects to traumatic brain injury and temporal lobe epilepsy.

Melissa unpacks how information control, purity culture, and anti-LGBTQ teachings shaped her patriarchal, fear-based upbringing, and how those same dynamics played out in the church's boarding academies. She shares what it took to leave at 18, the devastating discovery that followed about her own father, and how that truth cracked open a much deeper reckoning with everything she'd been taught. This conversation covers religious trauma, institutional betrayal, and how social media is helping ex-Adventists find each other and speak out.

Big recognition for one of our guests: Ru Marshall was recently featured in The New York Times for their book "American ...
08/07/2026

Big recognition for one of our guests: Ru Marshall was recently featured in The New York Times for their book "American Trickster," which exposes the guru Carlos Castaneda.

In our episode, Ru joins Rachel Bernstein to explore charismatic narcissism, spiritual abuse, and how high-control leaders exploit devotion.

🎧 Listen now: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/american-trickster-the-hidden-lives-of-carlos/id1373939526?i=1000768749144

Article - The Huckster Shaman Who Founded a Cult: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/books/review/american-trickster-ru-marshall.html

08/07/2026

Discover the surprising origins of conversion therapy and its deep roots in the Adventist Church's history.

In this episode, Rachel Bernstein speaks with Melissa Duge Spiers, who talks about growing up inside the Seventh-day Adventist Church — and the hidden cost of its end-times, high-control culture. Her book, ‘Holy Disobedience: S*x, Sin, and Secrets in the Biggest Church No One Knows,’ traces Adventism's roots back to the 1840s Millerite movement and the visions of prophet Ellen White, whose experiences Spiers connects to traumatic brain injury and temporal lobe epilepsy.

Melissa unpacks how information control, purity culture, and anti-LGBTQ teachings shaped her patriarchal, fear-based upbringing, and how those same dynamics played out in the church's boarding academies. She shares what it took to leave at 18, the devastating discovery that followed about her own father, and how that truth cracked open a much deeper reckoning with everything she'd been taught. This conversation covers religious trauma, institutional betrayal, and how social media is helping ex-Adventists find each other and speak out.

(OUT NOW) In this episode, Rachel Bernstein speaks with Melissa Duge Spiers, who talks about growing up inside the Seven...
08/07/2026

(OUT NOW) In this episode, Rachel Bernstein speaks with Melissa Duge Spiers, who talks about growing up inside the Seventh-day Adventist Church — and the hidden cost of its end-times, high-control culture. Her book, ‘Holy Disobedience: S*x, Sin, and Secrets in the Biggest Church No One Knows,’ traces Adventism's roots back to the 1840s Millerite movement and the visions of prophet Ellen White, whose experiences Spiers connects to traumatic brain injury and temporal lobe epilepsy.

Melissa unpacks how information control, purity culture, and anti-LGBTQ teachings shaped her patriarchal, fear-based upbringing, and how those same dynamics played out in the church's boarding academies. She shares what it took to leave at 18, the devastating discovery that followed about her own father, and how that truth cracked open a much deeper reckoning with everything she'd been taught. This conversation covers religious trauma, institutional betrayal, and how social media is helping ex-Adventists find each other and speak out.

Holy Disobedience: Inside the Seventh-day Adventist Church with Melissa Duge Spiers

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/indoctrination/id1373939526?i=1000775965774

(COMING WEDNESDAY) In this upcoming episode, Rachel Bernstein speaks with Melissa Duge Spiers, who talks about growing u...
06/07/2026

(COMING WEDNESDAY) In this upcoming episode, Rachel Bernstein speaks with Melissa Duge Spiers, who talks about growing up inside the Seventh-day Adventist Church — and the hidden cost of its end-times, high-control culture. Her book, ‘Holy Disobedience: S*x, Sin, and Secrets in the Biggest Church No One Knows,’ traces Adventism's roots back to the 1840s Millerite movement and the visions of prophet Ellen White, whose experiences Spiers connects to traumatic brain injury and temporal lobe epilepsy.

Melissa unpacks how information control, purity culture, and anti-LGBTQ teachings shaped her patriarchal, fear-based upbringing, and how those same dynamics played out in the church's boarding academies. She shares what it took to leave at 18, the devastating discovery that followed about her own father, and how that truth cracked open a much deeper reckoning with everything she'd been taught. This conversation covers religious trauma, institutional betrayal, and how social media is helping ex-Adventists find each other and speak out.

04/07/2026

Andrew Jasko shares his unexpected journey from aspiring missionary to self-discovery.

In this episode of IndoctriNation, Rachel Bernstein, LMFT, MSEd, welcomes back Andrew Jasko, Life After Dogma, psychotherapist and comparative religion scholar, for a deep and honest conversation about growing up inside evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity — and the long road to recovery from religious trauma.

Andrew grew up as a minister's son, immersed in a world of intense devotion, purity culture, missionary ambitions, and fear of eternal punishment. What he didn't yet have language for were the lasting psychological effects: shame, anxiety, religious OCD, sexual repression, thought policing, and hell trauma. Through therapy, he came to understand these not as personal failings, but as predictable outcomes of a high-control, fear-based system — one that functions much like narcissistic abuse.

Rachel and Andrew also explore the broader cultural forces that sustain spiritual abuse, including biblical mistranslations, harmful theological ideologies, and evangelism as a guilt-driven form of religious imperialism. Their conversation closes on the themes at the heart of cult recovery: reclaiming agency, rebuilding self-trust, learning to set boundaries, and finding wholeness within lived experience.

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